After a month of beta testing, Spotify is globally rolling out a standalone app for the Apple Watch series, letting users stream their music without needing their iPhone. The new feature comes after Spotify first announced its app support on the Apple Watch nearly two years ago, which until now, could only be used to control the music playback of the iPhone app.

Swedish music streaming service Spotify has started rolling out support for standalone streaming through its app for Apple Watch. The feature continues to be available in Beta and is not available. There has been a Spotify Apple Watch app available for the past few years, but the standalone streaming option is new. Spotify has been testing the feature for a few months, and prior to now.

With the new update, users will be able stream their music via the Spotify app for the Apple Watch, through a WiFi connection or via cellular connection while directly being to a connected pair of Bluetooth headphones or AirPods. This eliminates the need to carry an iPhone every time you want to listen to music, especially in scenarios such when you want to go for a run and you don’t want to take your iPhone with you.

Spotify is the latest among the top streaming services to release this feature, a list which includes Apple’s own Apple Music service and Pandora, but no YouTube Music interestingly. Google is still lagging in feature parity with its music streaming services.

The feature will rollout to all Spotify users who have Apple Watch Series 3 and above, with a Wi-Fi or cellular connection and running Watch OS 6.0+.

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Updated Sep. 24, 2020

Does Apple Watch 6 support streaming Spotify music directly without an ‌iPhone‌ connection? Sorry, the answer is still no. But Spotify is now testing direct Apple Watch streaming for select users. However, there is still no news on storing a playlist locally for offline listening. - read more

Spotify officially released its Apple Watch app on Nov 13, 2018. With this new app, users can enjoy an improved experience with better control and the ability to seamlessly connect to your speakers or devices.

Spotify’s first Apple Watch version includes the ability to access and control your favorite Spotify music and podcasts from wrist, and control how music is played to compatible Spotify Connect devices. But one important feature is missing: you can't store Spotify music locally on your wrist for offline listening.

The lack of offline playback may disappoint you. It means you still can't go for a run with just Bluetooth headphones and leave iPhone at home. Spotify is promising that offline playback support is coming in the future, however, it's not achieved. Unfortunately, it's a similar story for Apple Watch LTE owners with a data contract who were hoping to stream Spotify music directly from their wrist for listening on a pair of connected Bluetooth headphones. Currently the ability to do this doesn't exist in the Spotify app and there's a good chance it never will, since Apple's API for watchOS 5 doesn't permit third-party apps to use direct cellular or Wi-Fi streaming.

Play Spotify on Apple Watch Offline without iPhone

If you want to play Spotify music on Apple Watch offline without iPhone, here is a solution.

You can sync music, podcasts, or audiobooks from your iPhone to your Apple Watch. Then you can play the content on your watch without your iPhone nearby, even if your watch is not connected to Wi-Fi or cellular.

How to sync Spotify music to Apple Watch? First, you need to download them to DRM-free mp3 format. Yes, Spotify songs you downloaded with premium account are DRM-protected and can't be synced to Apple Watch. To download Spotify music to mp3 with either free or premium account, all you need is Ondesoft Spotify Music Converter, which is available on Mac and Windows. It's an excellent Spotify music downloader and converter, which is able to strip DRM from Spotify music and convert Spotify to MP3, M4A, FLAC or WAV with 100% original quality.

Follow the detailed tutorial as below to learn how to download Spotify music to mp3 and sync to Apple Watch.

Part 1 Download Spotify music to MP3

Step 1: Add Spotify music you want to download

Download, install and run Ondesoft Spotify Converter. Please make sure you have installed Spotify app on your computer.

Option 1 Drag&drop songs, albums or playlists you want to download from Spotify app to the Ondesoft Spotify Converter interface.

Option 2: Click the Add Files button, copy and paste the Spotify song/album/playlist link to the bottom area, then click the Add button.

(Right click the song/album/playlist name and then choose Share - Copy Song/Album/Playlist Link)

Step 2 : Choose output formats

Apple Watch And Spotify App Watch

The default output format is mp3. You can also click the Options button to choose other output format(MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC, OGG or AIFF), bitrate and samplerate.

Step 3: Start downloading and converting Spotify music

When finish the above settings, click the Convert button to start the conversion.

After the conversion, click below folder icon to locate the DRM-free Spotify songs.

Part 2 Add converted Spotify music to iTunes library

Add the converted Spotify songs to your iTunes library and then create a playlist for them. Turn on iCloud Music Library and your entire iTunes library will also appear on your iPhone.

Part 3 Sync Spotify music to your Apple Watch

Add the converted Spotify songs to your Apple Watch by syncing them. After you sync, you can play the Spotify music on your Apple Watch without your iPhone.

1. Set your Apple Watch on its charger and make sure that the device is charging.
2. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Bluetooth. Make sure that Bluetooth is turned on.
3. On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app, then tap the My Watch tab.
4. Tap Music > Add Add Music.
5. Choose the music that you want to sync.

Part 4 Offline play Spotify music on Apple Watch

Once the converted Spotify playlist has synced to your Apple Watch and your headphones are paired with your watch, you can listen to the playlist on your Apple Watch without your iPhone.

1. On your Apple Watch, open the Music app.
2. Tap the Apple Watch icon to set it as the music source.
3. Tap Playlists.
4. At the top you’ll see, On My Apple Watch. Select the playlist, press play and your music will begin!

Check other free music apps for Apple Watch.

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